Hogshead-making machine



(No Model.)

R. E. KING.

HOGSHEAD MAKING MACHINE.

No. 441,011. Patented Nov. 18. 1890.

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llllll IIII I W/T/VESSES:

diwz, 12am? E151} ATTORNEYS I To all whom it may concern.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC ROBERT EDWVARD KING, OF liOUISBURG, NORTH CAROLINA.

HOGSHEAD-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,011, dated November 18, 1890.

Application filed June 2, 1890. Serial No. 354,063. (No model.)

Be it known that 1, ROBERT EDWARD KING, of Louisburg, in the county of Franklin and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hogshead-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to an improved hogshead-making machine, and has for its object to provide a machine that shall be cheap, simple, and durable, one that requires little or no skill in the adjustment of the staves, and one in which it is impossible for the staves to collapse while hooping the hogshead.

My invention consists in certain details of construction and combination of parts, such as shown in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the description.

In the drawings forming apart of this specification, Figure l is an end view of the machine, the former sections being opened. Fig. 2 is a similar view, the sections being closed; and Fig. 3 is a side view of the mahead to be made.

chine having a hogshead formed therein and provided with the top and bottom hoops.

In. the embodiment of my invention I employ a central bed-piece or support B, which may be of any desired length, but is usually somewhat less than the length of the hogs- The upper surface of this bed-piece may be arranged at any suitable height. Two beams B are hinged longitudinally to the opposite sides of the bed-piece at its top, and to the upper or inner faces of said beams and at their opposite ends are secured the semicircular forming-bands 0, said bands being of iron and are arranged transverse to the length of the bed-piece B and beams 13'. The semicircular bands C on the same side of bed-piece B are connected and braced at their free ends by the longitudinal cross-beams B secured to their exterior sides, and it is also preferred to attach a transverse semicircular section 0 to the exterior of each forming band, the purpose of which sections is to carry the devices by means of which the two semicircular forming-sections are connected and pressed together. semicircular formerbeds D D may be arranged upon each side of the bed-piece, if desired, said beds being adapted to receive the semicircular formers when opened or folded down. When the former-sections rest in the beds D D or on the floor F, the upper faces or ends of the bedpiece B, beams B and B and bands 0 are all in horizontal alignment, and the lowermost parts of the bands 0 are also in alignment. The staves are now thrown in any desired number at a time and quickly arranged upon the interior faces of the former-bands O,and the top staves upon each side of each semicircular former are held in place by the thin leaf-springs E, which are pivoted to the interior faces of the beams B and cross-beams B, said springs being adapted to be turned inwardly toward the center of the former a distance sufficient to overlap the top staves, as clearly shown, thereby holding all the staves in their proper places.

Though it is seldom necessary, I provide braces F, which bear upon the opposing top staves in each section, thereby holding all the lower staves in position. This brace F may be a straight bar, or it may be made anchorshaped, as shown, the purpose of which is to prevent any of the staves dropping out of place whenthe sections are folded or closed. To the rear' of the bed-piece B is arranged a vertical gage plate or wall G, against which the rear end of each stave is made to bear, in order to provide a uniform arrangement of the staves. This gage-plate is wide enough to accommodate all the staves, whether the sections be opened or closed. By this construction the staves may be adjusted either before or after closingthe former-sections. It is preferred,however, to adjust them when the staves are first placed in the formers and before being braced and the formers closed. The staves therefore being properly adj ustcd and braced while the formers are in a horizontal position, they are swung vertically on the hinges h by means of the handles M until the free ends of the bands 0 approach each other. By this time the fastening devices have been brought into engagement and hold the sections in place, and the com pressing-lever is now brought into operation to compress the staves to any desired tensioni While almost any suitable form of fasten= ing device and compressing-lever could be employed, I prefer to use a combined fastening and compressing device section shown in the accompanying drawings, and which consists of bar H, having ratchet-teeth it upon its outer face, said bar being curved in the continuation of the arc of one of the sections 0, to which it is attached, and is adapted to enter a mortise H, cut in the opposing end of theopposite sections 0, and the mortised section is provided with a spring-pawl I, which engages and locks the ratchet-bar, and below said pawl is arranged a compressinglever K, said lever having its lower portion slotted longitudinally, through which passes the pivotal bolt in, the lowerend of said lever having a pointed nose, which engages the teeth h on the bar H, and by throwing the lever upward the former-sections will be brought closer together and the staves tightly compressed. The longitudinal slot permits the nose of the lever to be lifted out of engagement with the ratchet-bar and reversed in order to proceed with the compression to any suitable extent. While the staves are in the former the top and bottom hoops are put around, and sometimes the bottom piece is inserted, the ends of the barrel projecting a suificient distance beyond the former to permit the hoops being placed thereon. If desired, the beams B and B can be recessed, so as to permit the strips forming the central hoops to be placed around the hogshead. After the hogshead has thus been formed the braces are removed, the springs E turned down from between the staves, and the pawl I released from the bar H. The former-sections are then swung down ready for another set of staves, and the hogshead can be removed ,from the bed-piece B and handled without danger of the staves falling in.

M indicate handles attached to the sections 0, and by means of which the former sec tions are moved to an open or closed position.

Heretofore machines of this character have been more or less complicated, requiring the attendance of one or more skilled laborers, and the staves were put in and adjusted separately, thus rendering the operation very tedious. My machine, however, consists of very few and simple parts, is easily constructed and exceedingly cheap, being within the reach of every one. Any one can operate it, and no particular skill is needed.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new is- 1. A hogshead-making machine consisting of a central bed-piece, horizontal semicircular formers hinged to each side of the same, and fastening and compressing devices carried at the free ends of the formers, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a hogshead-making machine, the combination, with a central bed-piece, of a horizontal semicircular former hinged to each side of said bed-piece, fastening and compressing devices carried at the free ends of said formers, and a Vertical gage plate or wall arranged at the rear of the bed-piece, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a hogshead-makin g machine, the combination, with a bed-piece, of beams hinged longitudinally to the same, semicircular bands securedto said beams, cross-beams, all assembled to produce horizontal semicircular former-sections, and fastening devices carried upon the free ends of the former-sections, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a hogshead-making machine, the combination, with a central bed-piece, of beams hinged longitudinally to the same, tranverse semicircular bands secured to the beams, longitudinal cross-beams secured at the free ends of the said bands, transverse semicircular sections secured to the interior of said bands, handles secured thereto, a ratchet bar secured to the free end of one section, the opposite section being mortised to receive the said bar, a spring-pawl and compressing-lever, all arranged and adapted to operate substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, with the semicircular former-section O, of the ratchet-bar H, secured thereto, adapted to enter the mortise H in the opposing semicircular former-section 0', the spring-pawl I, and the compressing-lever, constructed and arranged substantially as shown and described.

ROBERT EDXVARD KING.

\Vitnesses:

HENRY A. CRENSHAW, JAMES MAXWELL ALLEN. 

